There’s a new Murphy in the New Jersey Senate race.
Justin Michael Murphy, a former Tabernacle deputy mayor who ran for Congress twice, says he will announce his bid for the Republican nomination or U.S. Senate during the first week of January.
“I’m talking to people behind the scenes,” Murphy said.
The contest for the GOP Senate nomination in a state where Republicans haven’t won a U.S. Senate since 1972 is becoming increasingly crowded since the indictment of three-term incumbent Bob Menendez.
The 57-year-old attorney and U.S. Navy veteran sought an open 3rd district House seat in 2008 when Rep. Jim Saxton (R-Mount Holly) retired after two dozen years in Congress. He ran off the line with the endorsement of former Jersey City Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler.
Medford Mayor Christopher Myers defeated Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly by a 49.4% to 25.4% margin, with Murphy coming in just 37 votes behind Kelly (25.3%). Myers lost to State Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill).
With the backing of Tea Party groups, Murphy ran again in 2010 but lost the GOP primary by twenty percentage points to former NFL player Jon Runyan. Runyan unseated Adler in the general election.
Murphy was elected to local office in Tabernacle in 2000, ousting incumbent Frances Brooks by about 250 votes. He has also served as Tabernacle GOP municipal chairman.
In the weeks since Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) said he would not run for U.S. Senate, the list of potential GOP candidates continues to grow, with former News 12 New Jersey reporter Alex Zdan and real estate developer and hotelier Curtis Bashaw mulling Senate runs.
Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, a former Bush administration official and the wife of a top advisor to Trump, is already in the race. She has picked up endorsements from Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and most of the Morris GOP establishment.
There are also three minor candidates on the Republican side: Daniel Cruz, a former member of the Andover Regional School District Board of Education; perennial candidate Gregg Mele, the 2021 Libertarian nominee for governor; and small business owner Michael Estrada, who won 1% of the vote in an independent State Assembly bid six years ago.
Three Democrats – maybe four, if Menendez runs again – are in the race: Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), First Lady Tammy Murphy, and former Newark school board member Lawrence Hamm.